Some feedback and suggestions if I may...
I notice a new Mint has been released without some of the apps that differenciate Mint from its parent distro Ubuntu.
Why do this? It appears to an outsider that this release was rushed.
It seems to be the trend amongst the more popular distros to release often.
I dont agree with this philosophy.
Why not just release upgraded packages for the current stable until a new release is complete, ready for its userbase and bugfree?
In my opinion Ubuntu is doing itself longterm damage because of its "strategy" of releasing often...whether or not its ready. Anyone who has used Feisty will know what I mean.
Ubuntu and its community has a great many strengths that Mint could draw from build on and enhance. I wish Mint and its community all the very best and hope that my criticisms are taken as constructive. kind regards,
Richardc.

Cassandra, mint 3, is still in beta ATM.
many changes will happen before the stable release.

Ubuntu wants to use stable packages instead of the most up to date.
The frequent releases update most package versions to newer ones (maybe not the newest), and with only one click of a button.

It is more like a checkpoint 6 month update of packages.
so once installed you never really upgrade the distro you are just updating all the packages every 6 months.

If you look at the repository structure all the packages for all ubuntu versions are found in the same package folder. there is just a single file for each distro that tells it what packages and versions are in that distro.

I am not saying i agree with all of their strategy but i can see their point.

In the long term maybe all distros will just let you update the package you want to the version you want... once the dependency issue is solved adequately.

Hi "Boo" , you said..
"Ubuntu wants to use stable packages instead of the most up to date"...
what I was trying to say ..delicately, is that Ubuntu (in particular Edgy) was probably the most unstable linux distro I have ever used...unfortunately.